


In the Way Of Happiness

by triste



Series: Academia AU - EnAli [3]
Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-22
Updated: 2014-12-22
Packaged: 2018-03-02 21:18:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2826434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/triste/pseuds/triste
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Does it matter? I’m giving you a family here. *My* family. With a fuckton of people who suffer from varying degrees of insanity.” Wait, that doesn’t sound right. Kouen strokes Alibaba’s face in a way he hopes is sufficiently distracting and reassuring. “And also me, of course. I’m giving you myself.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Way Of Happiness

Title: In the Way Of Happiness  
Author: Triste  
Fandom: Magi  
Pairing: Kouen/Alibaba  
Warnings: Modern day AU  
Status: Complete  
Disclaimer: Not mine

More academia AU to accompany these fics [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2643503) and [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2691491). Now with extra sap and stupidity! You know, because it's Christmas and stuff. Happy holidays everyone! Please also feel free to throw prompts or ideas for future fic. EnAli needs more love. <3

~~

The first thing Kouen realises after his deadline is that there’s no food in his apartment. The second thing he realises is that he’s all out of clean clothes to wear. There’s something else he’s missing too, and it’s probably connected to the other two.

Alibaba is nowhere to be found.

Kouen begins by attempting to summon him in his usual manner, by stamping on the floor to get Alibaba’s attention. When that doesn’t work he goes down to hammer on Alibaba’s door, and when there’s still no answer Kouen tries calling him on the phone as a last resort. It goes straight through to voicemail after a few rings, but rather than leaving a message, Kouen opts to contact someone else.

“Where the hell is Alibaba?” he demands, before Koumei can even say hello.

“Last I heard, he was going away to celebrate his birthday,” Koumei replies. “I believe he invited Kougyoku and Hakuryuu, along with his other two friends.”

“His birthday,” echoes Kouen, like it’s the first he’s ever heard of this.

“Yes,” Koumei replies patiently. “His birthday.”

Kouen frowns. It’s Alibaba’s birthday? He had no idea.

When he casts his mind back though, he vaguely remembers Alibaba mentioning something the last time he saw him, not that Kouen had been paying much attention what with being busy with his latest paper.

“His birthday,” Kouen says, slowly, once more.

“That’s right,” Koumei tells him, “his birthday. Judging by the confusion in your tone, I’m guessing you were unaware of this occasion.”

“How was I supposed to know?”

Koumei sighs, the way he always does when he feels his brother is being obtuse. “It’s generally important to remember dates like these. It’s also customary to offer gifts, cards or even a simple greeting. You know,” he adds, “to show that you care.”

Kouen almost takes offense over the implication that he doesn’t, but Koumei carries on before he can defend himself.

“Incidentally, I didn’t forget to wish him a happy birthday. Neither did Kouha. Or Hakuei. Or–”

“Okay, I get it,” Kouen interrupts. “I was busy. I have to publish stuff occasionally or else management gets onto my back. That’s just how it is.”

“Of course,” Koumei says, sounding like he’s trying to be soothing when really he’s being a snarky bastard who enjoys watching people squirm. “I’m sure Alibaba understands. You’re in the same line of work, after all.”

He’s right. Alibaba knows full well what Kouen is like, and although he nags and bitches on an almost daily basis, he’s never gotten seriously angry or upset with him before. Even if he were, he’s not the type of person who holds back. He’d say something about it, surely.

Alibaba values his companionships with others. He’d never just abandon someone, no matter how pissed off he was with them.

Then again, Kouen doesn’t remember finding a note or a message anywhere, and that’s not like Alibaba at all. Ordinarily he’d at least send Kouen a text message or stick a post-it note to his refrigerator, but this time he’s left him with nothing.

Just when Kouen wonders if he should start being worried, Koumei speaks up like the mind reader he is.

“Are you reflecting on your behaviour yet? See, this is why you’re still unmarried at your age.”

“You’re not married either,” Kouen points out testily.

“I’m merely enjoying the freedom of a life away from my tyrannical older brother,” Koumei counters, “which is why I suggest you do whatever it takes to earn Alibaba’s forgiveness. I don’t want to go back to being your number one skivvy.”

He’s really rubbing it in. It’s probably revenge for the way Kouen used to treat him when they were kids (and how he still treats him even now).

“You’re making it sound like he’s walked out on me,” Kouen gripes.

“You mean to say that he hasn’t?” Koumei asks innocently. “There’s only so much abuse and neglect a human being can take, you know.”

He’s going to kick Koumei next time he sees him, Kouen decides. He’ll do it at the upcoming New Year’s family get together. He could dislocate his shoulder again, or maybe break one of his ankles. That’ll shut him up. Or maybe he’ll use a few of Koumei’s beloved pigeons as target practice with an air rifle. They’re legally classed as vermin anyway, so they’ll hardly be much of a loss.

And if anything like this happens again, he’ll call Hakuei instead. At least she doesn’t force him to acknowledge his faults.

“It’ll be fine,” Kouen says. “Alibaba just hasn’t been in touch because he’s ill. Or injured. Or... shit, how do you know if someone’s lying dead in a ditch?”

“The local papers usually tend to report on these issues,” Koumei says mildly. “They also have an obituary section. You might want to begin by looking there.”

“I’m serious, dammit. Who’s Alibaba’s next of kin?”

“Well, since you’re his partner, ordinarily it would be you, but if you don’t even know when his birthday is...”

Kouen swears into the phone as he hangs up, having had enough of Koumei’s sarcasm and his own feelings of guilt. 

It’s true, though. He doesn’t really know anything important about Alibaba. Or maybe Alibaba told him and he just forgot about it.

If something did happen to Alibaba, he doesn’t have any family to take care of him or help him out. Both his parents died when he was young, and his brothers are still alive but also on the other side of the world, not that they make an effort to keep in touch.

The situation for Kouen is completely different in that he has more siblings, cousins and brothers-in-law than he knows what to do with. Most of his sisters have children of their own now, which means yet more relatives for Kouen to pretend to keep track of. 

In short, Kouen’s family is huge and never seems to stop growing. He barely even notices any new additions.

And that’s when it hits him.

What’s one more member, really? When he thinks about it, Alibaba is practically a part of Kouen’s family already anyway. Kougyoku adores him, Koumei seems to find him entertaining and Kouha likes having someone younger than him around to pick on (although he and Alibaba are technically the same age). He gets along well with Hakuei, and he’s one of the few friends Hakuryuu has that aren’t plants and microbes. 

Mind made up, Kouen leaves his apartment for the first time since... well, he can’t remember when, exactly, but there are things he needs to do.

Upon completion of his various tasks, Kouen spends the next three hours divided between making the kitchen even more of a mess than it was previously and bombarding Alibaba with “COME HOME NOW BEFORE I MURDER YOU MYSELF” text messages. It takes a while, but eventually Alibaba stops ignoring him and reappears into Kouen’s life, mostly likely because Kouen bullied all his siblings into spamming Alibaba too, because the first thing he does upon opening the door is throw his cell phone at Kouen.

“Are you trying to send me crazy?” he says, looking very much like he wants to yell at Kouen some more, but Kouen cuts him off before Alibaba can report him for harassment.

“Just shut up and sit down,” he orders. “I cooked you food.”

Alibaba’s jaw drops. Kouen can’t really blame him. It’s the first time he’s tried to make anything that doesn’t require the addition of boiling water or insertion into a toaster. 

Then he sees what’s waiting for him at the dinner table and his face does something weird. It probably has something to do with Kouen’s unorthodox meal plan (burnt rice, mutilated squid, cabbage shredded to within an inch of its life and lots and lots of soy sauce to mask the taste).

“You made this for me?” he asks, incredulous.

And he actually eats it, despite it tasting as terrible as it looks (and it does look truly vile, which even Kouen himself can’t deny), but then Alibaba can eat pretty much anything as long as it won’t land him in hospital.

“Hold on,” he says, taking a closer look at Kouen afterwards and finding something else different. “Did you shave off your goatee?”

Kouen feels strangely bereft after so many years of carefully cultivating his facial hair, but it’s a sacrifice he had to make. “Because I know how much you hate it.”

Alibaba’s face does something weird again. “Is this your way of trying to apologise?”

“I was worried,” Kouen says stiffly. “You never told me you were going anywhere.”

“I did,” Alibaba argues, “but you refused to listen. You never do, except for when it suits you.” 

Then he sighs and shuffles across the floor, kneeling next to Kouen and putting his arms around his shoulders. 

Kouen rests his forehead against the side of Alibaba’s neck, breathing in his scent. 

“Are you sniffing me?” asks Alibaba, sounding vaguely disturbed. “God, you’re such a freak.”

Kouen should probably tell Alibaba he’s missed him, but that would make him look weak so he gives an insulted “hmph” instead. He’s missed other things too, like proper meals, clean clothes and organisation in general. And also sex. 

Speaking of which, Alibaba does smell really nice. It’s making Kouen horny. Did he always smell this good?

Kouen reminds himself to get back to the subject. Besides, he can tell Alibaba hasn’t completely stopped being pissed off with him yet, so it’s unlikely he’ll be as receptive to Kouen’s advances as Kouen wants him to be.

“So,” he says, in an attempt to improve the situation, “it’s your birthday.”

“It *was* my birthday,” Alibaba corrects, irritation returning to his voice, but his fingers are gentle as he runs them through Kouen’s hair, at least until he notices the state it’s in. “Ugh, when was the last time you had a bath? If you’re going to shave, at least wash your hair while you’re at it.”

“You can wash it for me later,” Kouen says. “After we have sex.” He clears his throat. “I mean talk about our relationship.”

“Well, at least I can always rely on you to be honest,” Alibaba sighs, resting his cheek on the top of Kouen’s head. “Even though you are a hopeless manchild.”

“That’s not true. I’ve learnt how to use computers now. I know how to play World of Warcraft and everything.”

“Yeah, and I wish I’d never bought you that subscription, you military nerd. I thought your board game obsession was bad enough. Honestly, it’s like you’re an eternal student.”

They’re starting to go off topic, so Kouen steers them back to the subject.

“Koumei said you went away with Kougyoku and Hakuryuu.”

“I invited Aladdin and Morgiana too. You’re the one I asked first, though. You’re the one I really wanted to go with.”

Shit. Now Kouen is starting to feel guilty again.

“Morgiana was mad as hell.” Alibaba laughs a little at the memory of it. “First she wanted to kill you, and then she wanted me to break up with you. She even tried setting me up with Muu and Masrur. Then Hakuryuu was like ‘my sister needs a husband before she gets past prime child bearing age, please don’t let her turn into a crazy old cat lady.’ Seriously, he needs to stop trying to marry off poor Hakuei. She’s had her eye on Ugo since forever, in any case. And as for Aladdin, well, all he said was that he wanted me to be happy.”

It sends another stab to both Kouen’s heart and conscience. 

“*Are* you happy?” he asks.

“With you?” Alibaba hums contemplatively. “Well, when you’re not sending me insane... or forgetting my birthday... or treating me like I’m your PA or something... or just ignoring my existence altogether, then...”

He’s not really answering the question, which means his life with Kouen probably doesn’t bring him all that much in the way of happiness. 

In that case, there’s only one thing that will make him happy (or lots of things, if only Kouen would change his ways and become a better person), which Kouen takes out of his pocket and hands over to Alibaba.

“I already filled in my part,” he says gruffly. “You do the rest. And if you ever decide you wants brats of your own someday, Kougyoku says she’ll surrogate for you.”

Alibaba stares at the registration form in shock. Then he starts to cry. Kouen pats him on the back awkwardly. He still has no idea how to handle people when they’re being emotional. He’d usually just smack them to make them stop, but that would kill the mood.

“Why are you asking me to marry you when you haven’t even taken me out on a date yet?” Alibaba says.

“Does it matter? I’m giving you a family here. *My* family. With a fuckton of people who suffer from varying degrees of insanity.” Wait, that doesn’t sound right. Kouen strokes Alibaba’s face in a way he hopes is sufficiently distracting and reassuring. “And also me, of course. I’m giving you myself.”

There. That’s better.

Alibaba makes a sound that’s a cross between a laugh and a sob. “I guess it’s a good thing I have low standards, huh?” 

That’s actually kind of annoying, so Kouen headbutts him. Gently, though. And affectionately.

“Are we done now?” he asks, planning on moving this scene to a more appropriate room. “We’re supposed to celebrate with sex, right?”

Alibaba rolls and wipes his eyes simultaneously, but instead of giving Kouen a comeback, he just holds out his arms and smiles. “You’d better take me to bed before I start regretting my decision.”

Kouen doesn’t need to be told twice.


End file.
